Lesson Plan

Objective: To increase student awareness of how to identify and avoid hate sites

Intended Level: Grade 10 Computer Advanced Technology or World Issues/Social Studies class

Literacy with ICT Goals:
Critical and Creative Thinking:
At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

• Answer: What is a hate site? Who creates hate sites? What is the targeted audience of certain hate sites? How can you avoid hate sites?
• Make smart choices regarding the use of hate sites by thinking critically about their content and the consequences of their use.
• Help to create a wiki website about tolerance and diversity with the help of their classmates.

Ethics and Responsibility
At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate respect and tolerance online.
• Identify: what do I do if I come across a hate site?
• Responsibly navigate away from hate sites.

ICT Literacy
At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

• Contribute to and learn how to manage a wiki.
• Find information about hate sites in an efficient and safe way.

Pre-Activity:

• Teacher will lead a classroom discussion about student perceptions about the following topics:
  • What is "hate"?
  • What are some examples of "hate"?
  • What is a "hate site"?
  • Have you ever come across a "hate site"?
• The purpose of this activity is to activate prior knowledge about hate sites as well as determine how much students already know about hate sites.

Activity:

• Teacher will present a brief presentation on hate sites that will answer the following questions
  • What is a hate site?
  • What are some examples of hate sites?
  • Why are hate sites hurtful?
  • Can I get in trouble by joining or posting content on a hate site?
• Teacher will present a short written assessment piece: Is This a Hate Site?
  • Teacher will give examples such as:
    • A website devoted to anti-semitic remarks
    • A social networking website (such as Facebook) where someone posts a racist comment
    • An e-mail website (such as Hotmail) where someone receives a hateful e-mail.
• Teacher will ask students to form small groups (2-3) to create content on the class wiki (already established)
  • Each student will be required to add one page to the class wiki with the following content:
    • At least three images
    • At least two articles about hate sites
    • At least one video about hate sites
    • Information about hate sites (definition only, no examples)
  • Once the pages are added, the students will work together to create a page on the class wiki about tolerance
    • Each group will be responsible for a certain aspect of the wiki (ex. images, articles, videos, etc)

Post-Activity:

• Students will reflect on the process on their blog (already established from previous assignment) and answer the following questions:
  • What did I learn about hate sites?
  • How did learning about hate sites make me feel?
  • What will I do when I encounter a hate site?

Further Lesson Plan Resources:

• Deconstructing Online Hate (Media Awareness Network) 15
• Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum22